Review of Thanks to Frances Perkins, by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by Kristy Caldwell

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Thanks to Frances Perkins

Fighter for Workers’ Rights

by Deborah Hopkinson
illustrated by Kristy Caldwell

Peachtree, 2020. 40 pages.
Review written September 17, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

I love the way this book starts, making the book personal and rousing curiosity:

Let’s start with two math questions, especially for you younger readers.
1. How many years will it be until you turn sixty-two?
2. What year will that be?
Now, hold onto your answers until the end, when you’ll find out why this is important.
And why (when you get there) you’ll want to thank Frances Perkins.

The book goes on as a vivid picture book biography showing key events in Frances Perkins’ life. It shows Frances helping with her mother in a soup kitchen and tells about conditions for workers at that time. Frances herself witnessed the Triangle Waist Company fire on March 25, 1911, when she’d been having tea with a friend nearby. After that, she went to a memorial gathering and was inspired to fight for justice.

The book shows the good work she did and the various ways she helped workers, first in New York State, and then as the Secretary of Labor, the first female cabinet member, under Franklin Roosevelt.

Frances Perkins contributed many ideas to FDR’s New Deal, and this book mentions them and focuses in on Social Security. I love this description of Social Security:

Today, Social Security provides help for survivors: the children or spouse of a worker who has passed away. It supports children and adults with disabilities. The program also benefits older people who’ve paid Social Security taxes during their working lives.

Through Social Security, we’ve built a society where we help one another. An idea that began as a slip of paper in Frances Perkins’s desk has become a vital part of our democracy.

Now back to those math questions. Although it might well change in the future, right now most people can begin receiving Social Security benefits as early as – you guessed it – age sixty-two.

So whether you benefit from Social Security now or on some far-off day, think of this dedicated public servant and remember to say, “Thanks, Frances!”

The book also shows how hard she worked and the obstacles she faced to bring this to fruition. It’s lovely to realize how much the vision and dedication of one woman contributes to our well-being today.

deborahhopkinson.com
kristycaldwell.com
peachtree-online.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of My Lost Freedom, by George Takei

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

My Lost Freedom

A Japanese American World War II Story

by George Takei
illustrated by Michelle Lee

Crown Books for Young Readers, 2024. 48 pages.
Review written May 13, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

George Takei, who ended up acting in the original Star Trek series, was five years old when his family was imprisoned in the Japanese American incarceration camps during World War II. He’s already told his story in They Called Us Enemy, a graphic novel. Now he’s put the story in picture book biography form, so that even elementary school children can learn from it.

Now, George was five. As I noticed in the graphic novel, his five-year-old perspective looked for fun in the big adventure of a train ride and a move. For example, the first camp they went to was Camp Rohwer, and he thought the soldiers on the train were trying to roar like a lion when they called out the name. (He didn’t know that soldiers on train cars with rifles wasn’t a normal way to go on vacation.)

He highlights how much his parents did to give George and his two siblings a happy and comfortable childhood. But it also comes out how much they lost. And how completely unjust it was for the government to do this to people born in America. Even when they got sent to a higher security camp because his father wouldn’t sign up for military service, George highlights the movie theater there and the stray dog they adopted.

The main part of the book ends with a happy reunion with George’s father, who had gone ahead of them after they were released to rent a home. There’s extensive back matter which reveals how hard it was to establish a home after the war with prejudice still high and only $25 from the government. A government that had confiscated all their possessions and bank accounts before the incarceration.

But I like the way George Takei doesn’t come across as bitter. Instead, he clearly stands up for what democracy should be — something his father taught him. After some young men in the camps protested, this happened:

One night, angry soldiers came roaring into the camp in jeeps, their rifles aimed at us. They were looking for radicals, but more often than not, innocent men were thrown in jail. I remember hearing women crying and wailing.

When I asked Daddy about the radicals, he said, “In a democracy, the people have the right to assemble and protest.

I’m glad this man is telling the story of what happened to him as a child, in hopes that such a thing will never happen in America again.

mklillustration.com
rhcbooks.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Your Legacy, by Schele Williams, illustrated by Tonya Engel

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

Your Legacy

A Bold Reclaiming of Our Enslaved History

Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2021. 44 pages.
Review written November 17, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

Your Legacy is a lavishly illustrated picture book for African American children. The book reframes the story of their enslaved ancestors as one of resilience and powerfully overcoming hardship with love. And what a legitimate reframing!

The qualities of those ancestors specifically pointed out are love, intellect, courage, determination, brilliance, strength, ingenuity, grace, and dignity. Then more modern-day examples of African Americans who demonstrated these qualities are portrayed.

I thought this was such a beautiful way to look at the past.

I love the point that they didn’t all speak the same language and coming up with a way to communicate showed great ingenuity. Here’s some of that part:

When they finally landed in the Americas, they were surrounded by people from other African countries and Caribbean Islands. All of these people were now called slaves.

Your ancestors were immediately separated from one another and given new names. They were put into groups with other enslaved people, who all spoke different languages. They were forced to do grueling work.

Although they were strangers, they chose to LOVE and protect one another as family.

They needed to find a way to communicate with one another. It was their INTELLECT that allowed them to combine all the languages they spoke to create a new one, called Pidgin.

They also found a new language they could share . . . MUSIC.

That’s one part of the reframing. The whole book beautifully shows the strong spirit of people who got through adversity and passed on beautiful qualities to their descendants.

If you have African American children, this is a book to own and treasure and read with them again and again. But all children will benefit from at least reading this beautiful story.

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of The Assassin’s Blade, by Sarah J. Maas

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Assassin’s Blade

by Sarah J. Maas
read by Elizabeth Evans

Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021. 12 hours, 52 minutes.
Review written April 25, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.

I select youth and children’s materials for a large public library system, and by far the most popular author of all the books I purchase is Sarah J. Maas. All of her books consistently have long waiting lists. Since I love fantasy novels, I decided to see what the fuss was about. Now, it’s not clear that I picked the correct order. It turns out that this book I picked up was written as a prequel – so the events happen before the first book written. Anyway, Overdrive had it listed as number one in the series, so this is the one I’ve started with.

It turns out that The Assassin’s Blade is a collection of five novellas, all of them about Celaena Sardothien, at sixteen years old her kingdom’s most notorious assassin. I enjoyed the fact that each part was a contained story. Each novella had a sort of heist scene. Each novella has a complete storyline and a satisfying resolution (or, well, at least a resolution). Each novella happened directly after the one before, but I liked the way the action moved into each story as its own entity.

And the stories were compelling. Each one had a big challenge for Celaena. I definitely did not like the way it all ended, though I’m sure if I had read the books in publication order, I would have known where Celaena would end up. She’s a character worth following – forced to train as an assassin, she became the best. But when the king of the assassins wants her to facilitate a deal with pirates to get into the slave trade, she decides to free the slaves.

I got the flavor of a brutal world, with a ruthless king who has banished magic from the kingdom, but assassins and pirates and crime lords all doing their own thing. Celaena finds love in these stories and dreams of leaving the assassin’s guild and the continent altogether. The fantasy world where she lives is dark and sinister – but I enjoyed Celaena’s character, learning to shine in a difficult world.

I wasn’t completely hooked on this world, but I was hooked enough to put the next (first?) book on hold.

sarahjmaas.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Without Separation, by Larry Dane Brimner, illustrated by Maya Gonzalez

Children's Nonfiction Review, History 0

Without Separation

Prejudice, Segregation, and the Case of Roberto Alvarez

by Larry Dane Brimner
illustrated by Maya Gonzalez

Calkins Creek (Boyds Mills & Kane), 2021. 40 pages.
Review written November 16, 2021, from a library book

Here’s a segregation story I hadn’t heard before.

At the start of 1931, when kids got back from Christmas vacation, kids of Mexican descent were turned away from Lemon Grove Grammar School in California and told they had to go to a new school built especially for them.

The new school was Olive Street School, and the school board had opened it because they believed “the Mexican children were unclean and endangered the health of every other student.”

But the parents fought back. They had told Roberto if he was turned away from Lemon Grove Grammar School, to come home and boycott the new school. The parents banded together to fight the discrimination in court. They chose Roberto to file the suit because he had been born in California and could speak English as well as any of the white kids, and got good grades. There was no good reason to send him to a different school.

This story unfolds simply. The evil school board that caused the problems only has their feet showing in the pictures. Back matter includes photographs of the children and Roberto Alvarez as an adult.

An important story that deserves to be heard.

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Sonderling Sunday – The Silent Sisters

Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge, Sonderling Sunday 0

It’s time for Sonderling Sunday, that time of the week when I play with language by looking at silly phrases in the German translations of children’s books.

Tonight, we’re back to Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderling, The Order of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy. We’re still so close to the end – and yet so far! Let’s get a little bit closer.

Last time we looked at this book, we left off on page 366, Seite 464 in German (Yes, German is longer.) with the approach of the Silent Sisters, die Stummen Schwestern. Here’s the first sentence of the next section:

“They glowed in the darkness, veils and gowns rippling in an invisible wind, holding out their clutching bony hands.”
= Sie schimmerten dunkelblau in der Finsternis; ihre Schleier und die Gewänder wehten in einem unsichtbaren Wind, während sie ihre knorrigen Hände nach ihr ausstrecken.

“chilly fingertip” = eiskalte Fingerspitze

“Jo yelled and tore up the stairs, three at a time.”
= Jo schrie auf, die Treppe hoch und nahm drei Stufen auf einmal.

“fluttering up the stairs”
= die Stufen hinaufschwebten

“The city was in a pandemonium.”
= In der Stadt war die Hölle los.
(“All hell broke loose in the city.”)

“Flames leaped”
= Flammen loderten
(“Flames blazed”)

“bobbing” = hüpfte (“hopped”)

“mob” = Meute

“their faces ugly with rage”
= die Gesichter vor Hass zu hässlichen Fratzen verzogen
(“their faces from hate to ugly grimaces twisted”)

“Jo was trapped.”
= Sie saß in die Falle
(“She sat in the trap.”)

Hmm. Not at all sure about this translation:
“sedan” = Limousine (Though yes, Google confirms that “sedan” is a legit translation.)

“skidded” = schleuderte

Another version of this one:
“mob” = Menschenmenge (“crowd”)

“the door flew open” = die Beifahrertür flog auf (“the by-driver [passenger] door flew open”)

“bricks and rocks” = Ziegelsteine und Felsbrocken (“brick-stones and rock-chunks”)

“Audrey floored it.” = Audrey gab Vollgas.

“I slipped away.” = Ich bin schnell hinausgeschlüpft

“after this blows over”
= wenn Gras über diese Sache gewachsen ist
(“when grass grows over these things”)

“deserted and in shambles” = verlassen and verwüstet

“wedged into the twisted door frame”
= in dem verbogenen Rahmen klemmte

“shattered” = zerschmettert

“a panel in the wall” = eine Holzvertäfelung an der Wand

“hidden door” = Geheimtür

“narrow” = schmaler

“poking around” = herumgeschnüffelt (“sniffing around” — I like this word!)

“crawl space” = Kriechraum

“Don’t ask!” = Stell keine Fragen!

“reluctantly” = zögernd

Oh, here’s a phrase every traveler should know:
“sucking up her blood” = ihr Blut aufsaugte

And a sad last sentence for the section:
“Maybe she was born evil.”
= Vieleicht war sie von Geburt an böse.

That’s it for tonight! We’re leaving off on Seite 468, page 370, at a section break. Only two chapters and a small section to go!

Meanwhile, I hope you will never need most of the above phrases in your travels, but isn’t it good to be prepared? And one that I may use on the Autobahn is giving the car Vollgas.

Bis nächste Woche!

Review of Change Sings, by Amanda Gorman

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Poetry, Starred Review 0

Change Sings

A Children’s Anthem

by Amanda Gorman
pictures by Loren Long

Viking, 2021. 32 pages.
Review written November 16, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

I’m not usually a fan of picture books that simply try to present an uplifting idea, but this book is something special, and I can’t resist Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman’s words.

We begin with a girl who looks like a young Amanda Gorman sitting and strumming a guitar.

I can hear change humming
In its loudest, proudest song.

I don’t fear change coming,
And so I sing along.

The pictures show the girl enlisting other kids to help make a difference — both playing instruments and cleaning up city streets and playgrounds.

They end up with a diverse cast doing good things and forming a joyful parade.

And I can’t really do it justice in a description. Check out this book and see if you aren’t uplifted, empowered, and filled with hope.

It’s about coming together, doing good, and making music together where everyone is welcome.

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of This Story Is Not About a Kitten, by Randall de Sève, illustrated by Carson Ellis

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

This Story Is Not About a Kitten

written by Randall de Sève
illustrated by Carson Ellis

Random House Studio, 2022. 36 pages.
Review written January 25, 2023, from a library book
Starred Review
A 2022 Capitol Choices selection

Here’s a heart-warming picture book about a community coming together to rescue a little kitten that’s lost and alone.

Oops! I told you what it’s about. The picture book itself does that with more artistic flair, in a cumulative refrain that tells us what the story is not about. Here’s an example, several pages in:

This story is not about the twins
who brought a box,
or the woman who held the dog
for the dog’s people who listened,
or the dog who stopped when it
heard the kitten,
hungry and dirty,
scared and alone,
meowing sadly,
needing a home.

As more and more people get involved, we see an entire neighborhood interacting to help. And when they figure out who can take the little lost kitten, they all come together with refreshments. And you see new friendships formed because they all worked together to help.

A beautifully simple book with a lyrical refrain, all about the connections built when people work together.

randalldeseve.com
carsonellis.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Unbound, by Joyce Scott with Brie Spangler and Melissa Sweet, art by Melissa Sweet

Art, Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Unbound

The Life + Art of Judith Scott

by Joyce Scott
with Brie Spangler
and Melissa Sweet
Art by Melissa Sweet

Alfred A. Knopf, 2021. 44 pages.
Review written November 9, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

Unbound is the story of Judith Scott, an artist who made wrapped fiber art sculptures.

This story is extra powerful, because it’s narrated by Judith’s twin Joyce. She starts when they were young and did everything together.

But when Joyce went to Kindergarten, she was separated from Judith, who had Down Syndrome. Before long, Judith was put into an institution, and the book expresses how terribly Joyce missed her sister.

Judy has never spoken a word. We wonder if she will ever talk. The doctors say that she is slow and will not get better, but they don’t know Judy like I do. She is perfect just the way she is. She knows things that no one else knows and sees the world in ways that I never will.

It isn’t until Joyce grows up and starts her own family that she is able to get Judith out of the institution to come live with her.

Since Joyce worked as a nurse, she found an art center that had programs for people with disabilities. It took some time, but that was where Judith discovered how much she enjoyed making wrapped fiber art sculptures.

For years, Judy wraps and weaves, creating fantastic, cocoon-like shapes filled with color.

She wraps her head in beautiful hats, scarves, and ribbons, becoming her own work of art.

Before her death, Judy’s sculptures achieved worldwide acclaim.

This story is especially inspiring because her twin sister believed in her and saw the beauty in her all along.

Melissa Sweet’s mixed-media art evokes Judith Scott’s work so beautifully. (There are some photographs to give you the idea as well.)

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of Wide Awake, by David Levithan

Contemporary, Teen Fiction Review 0

Wide Awake

by David Levithan

Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. 221 pages.
Review written May 9, 2024, from a library book.

Notice the copyright date on this book of 2006. I checked out this book because I got to hear an author talk by David Levithan with him talking about his new book, Wide Awake Now. He described it as an update of this one — which he’d written in 2004, when George W. Bush defeated John Kerry for a second term.

This book features Duncan, a gay high school student who’s not old enough to vote, but involved in volunteering for a presidential candidate in a near future election. As the book opens, this candidate has just been elected as the first gay Jewish president of the United States. But there’s a problem. Though he won the popular vote, he only won the electoral college vote by one state, and the governor of Kansas has announced that he’s doing a recount. As the recount happens, he’s finding reasons to throw out votes. President-Elect Stein calls on his followers to come to Kansas in protest, and this book is about that road trip. Duncan’s boyfriend is on the trip, as are other campaign volunteers they’re already friends with, and more people they meet along the way. We get lots of Stein speeches about building community and caring for others and more great things.

Something I loved about the book was that a big part of Stein’s support came from people who were part of “the Jesus Revolution” – a group all about really living Jesus’s teachings of love and caring for the poor. How I wish he’d gotten that part of the future right! The opposition party call themselves the “Decents” and are against gay marriage and saying many of the same things Christians are known for saying today (sadly), but I was pleased to see at least one large group of Christians in this imagined future were firmly about actually following Jesus’s teachings.

Some omissions were interesting. Although he said these teens had been born “decades” after 9/11, there had never been a Black president, and gay marriage was not legal. That this wasn’t even imagined happening in 2006 was interesting to me.

I was actually a little disturbed by a presidential candidate on the “good” side calling for his followers to protest about election results. To be fair, he won the popular vote and had already been declared the winner of the election. They were protesting the recount that the Kansas governor was trying to manipulate. Protesting that the results must stand. There was also no violence, and they didn’t break into any government building or threaten any government officials. So it wasn’t really obstruction of an official proceeding.

But speaking after January 6th, which forever changed my perspective, I don’t like the idea at all of determining official election results because of a protest. Because as we all know, no matter what the outcome — even losing by six states instead of one — any candidate can work their followers into a frenzy demanding that results be changed. And that’s just not how I want these things to be determined. By all means, put scrutiny on anything the governor in question may have done to change the results, but ultimately, I really do think we need to be able to trust the courts to determine legality and illegality.

All that said, it was a fascinating look at someone twenty years ago projecting what politics might be like around this time. Of course, someone like Trump wasn’t imagined at all. It’s also a good story – with interactions between Duncan and his boyfriend and parents and friends and teachers. And does paint a picture of a bright future. I’m definitely going to read the more recently written follow-up and hope the author has not gotten more cynical.

davidlevithan.com
randomhouse.com/teens

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?